A few other forums I'm on have a topic like this and it's quite interesting and fun! What's the story behind your profile pic?

Mine is a Nordic rune form called Vegivisir a.k.a. the Norse Compass. Very little is known about it except for an old manuscript that states:

“If this sign is carried, one will never lose one’s way in storms or bad weather, even when the way is not known.”

Its grown to mean a bit to me in life. Learned a long time ago that even if you're lost forward is still a direction worth travelling.

And within the Urban Exploration hobby I think it carries some good meaning as well. Best part about it? It could all be a fluke and not an actual rune or Nordic symbol at all because the source material is sketch. It might be the viking equivalent of having a Chinese character tattoo that you think says "Peace" but actually says "Ho." But hey, I like it!

My picture is a character that was scribbled by various soldiers throughout WWI and WWII; it was believed to be a moral booster by comforting arriving American soldiers. Basically showing them that their comrades had been there already or were not too far ahead. There were similar drawings done by Australian soldiers about 20 years before Kilroy that instead said "Foo was here" so my picture isn't exactly the beginning of the drawing.

A lot of sources say it was just a joke but I like the theory that is was a confidence/moral booster. Just like when I see other explorers' marks on white boards or in extremely secluded spots, it reassures me that another explorer has been there and it motivates me to keep going.

My profile pic is a detail from one of Francisco Goya's "Black Paintings" entitled 'Two Old Ones Eating Soup', created sometime around 1820 while Goya was in his 70's. He painted it directly on the wall above the front door in his house. The full painting looks like this: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... o_sopa.jpg

Awesome you guys! I find the facial expressions to be simultaneously hilarious and unsettling. As you know, Goya had long since been deaf by the time he made the Black Paintings, and I think that the series is a great depiction of aging and reminder of our mortality. I might add that if you dig Goya, there's this awesome film called Goya's Ghosts with Natalie Portman (!) that I highly recommend to you all.

I'll have to catch that for sure. His Black Paintings are amazing, didn't he lose his hearing due to some accident that made him bitter to the world? I know the wars and the direction Spain was going in perturbed him to no end in his later years. I'm a big fan of Saturn Devouring His Son.

It's from the Young Pope (a CHOICE miniseries that was on HBO last year) and the image of the pontiff sadly reclining and smoking a cigarette really speaks to my general mood. It used to be a pic of Shaye St. John but Jackelman made me change it because it scared her.

I was an art history major and not super duper into Goya but if anyone wants to wax poetic about Modern/Postmodern American art and/or Regionalism I'M YOUR BIIIIIIIIITCH.

Mine is cars I own .... Pic is like 10 years old .... I still have them both .....

''thats what happens , light out there , dark in here''- Slim Jim
for the last time, yes ,i did just put my wheel on with a hammer.....
One man's duplication is another man's competitive analysis
Science flies men to the moon, religion flies men into buildings.

The one on the left is a lot nicer these days, the one on the right hasn't seen the road in quite some time and probably will not ever again

''thats what happens , light out there , dark in here''- Slim Jim
for the last time, yes ,i did just put my wheel on with a hammer.....
One man's duplication is another man's competitive analysis
Science flies men to the moon, religion flies men into buildings.